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AN ORATION 



BEFORE THE • 



WASHINGTON BENEVOLENT SOCIETY 



PENNSYLVANIA, 



DELIVERED IN THE HALL OF THE MUSICAL FUND SOCIETY, 
ON THE~22nD OF FEBRUARY, 1827", 



BY WILLIAM T^DWIGHT. 



t '876. J 



PHILADELPHIA: 



PRINTED BY JAMES MAXWELL, 

1827. 

i 



February 27, 1827. 

At a meeting of the committee of arranoements 
of the Washington benevolent society of Pennsyl- 
vania — 

" Resolved, that the thanks of the committee be pre* 
sented to William T. Dwight, Esquire, for his oration 
delivered at the late celebration of the anniversary of 
the birth of the illustrious Washington on the twenty- 
second instant, and that he be requested to furnish a 
copy for publication," 



ORATION. 



Ninety-five years since, on the day which has now 
summoned us together, was born in the county of West- 
moreland, in the state of Virginia, one of the younger 
children of a reputahle farmer. When the father of this 
new-born infant first beheld him, he doubtless fancied 
that he saw a mere addition made to the mass of human 
existence; another subject for earthly toils, and cares, 
and hopes — that was destined briefly to tread the journey 
of life, and then to die and be forgotten. Had he che- 
rished any other thoughts, they would have been deemed 
the fond dreams of the parent; not the sober judgment 
of the man. To every created eye the sight of this infant 
was the sight of utter helplessness and obscurity; and 
to the world of men his clferacter and his destiny seemed 
to be almost as insignificant as the drop that falls from 
the bucket. What then would have been the astonishment 
and joy of this parent, could some hand have drawn the 
curtain of futurity and pointed out to him in the distant 



6 ORATION. 

prospect, objects and events rising upon each other in 
bright and rapid succession, which should stamp the 
name of that infant upon the country which he was 
destined to save; upon the age in which he lived; upon 
the world which he has adorned! That infant was Wash- 
ington. 

Ninety-five years since, the mariner, who coasted the 
western shore of the Atlantic, saw in its margin the 
boundary of thirteen disunited, dependent, and feeble 
colonies. — They were disunited in their governments, 
in their interests, in their views. They all indeed spoke 
the same language, and sprang from a common stock; 
but a thousand causes had conspired to make them almost 
different nations. — They were also dependent. Their 
very name, that of colonies, implied subjection to a 
foreign power; and that power spoke her pleasure across 
an ocean of three thousand miles, and claimed their 
allegiance. To many of them she sent her nobles to 
govern them; the laws of all she repealed at her pleasure; 
and through their territories she spread her troops. — 
They were feeble, miserably feeble, in strength and 
resources. Many of them had for years been struggling 
for existence, and were yet to struggle, against the cun- 
ning and the tomahawk of the savage; and they had 
come out from the struggle, bleeding and exhausted. 
They were scattered over vast tracts of country, bordered 
by pathless wilds and immeasurable forests; and thus — 



ORATION. 7 

few and faint as they were, — begirt on one side by the 
ocean, and on the other by the regions of savage desola- 
tion, well might the mariner have asked what would be 
their doom. Had then some magic power given to the 
telescope, through which at intervals he surveyed the 
vast extent of shore before him, the future as well as the 
distant; had what is present to us been made the present 
to him; what would have been his astonishment as our 
country, independent of the world and mighty in her 
strength, broke upon his view! No longer does he gaze 
at colonies disunited, dependent, and feeble. — In the 
place of disunion he beholds a republic, with its con- 
federacy of states bound together by the more than 
Gordian ties of a common interest, language, govern- 
ment, laws and religion. Separated from Europe by the 
billows of the Atlantic, with no enemy on their borders 
to scatter jealousy and dissension, and surrounded by 
the protecting waters of the lakes and the ocean; they 
are and they remain— one and alone. — To dependence 
has succeeded independence. They have agonized 
through a seven years' struggle with the nation from 
which they sprang; and its issue has found them more 
than conquerors. Self-governing and self-governed, to 
their own laws they are submissive; under their own 
pure republic they share a perfect equality of rights; 
and they own no sovereign but Him, who has ever 
defended them, and who is the sovereign of the universe. 



8 ORATION. 

—To weakness have succeeded gigantic strength and 
energy. Their population has rolled forward and on 
every side, like the mist which overspreads the valley. 
The forest has bowed before them; the savage has va- 
nished away; the earth and the air, the fire and the water, 
have become their tributaries. Every wave wafts their 
ships; every valley whitens with their harvests; every 
gale bears the cheerful sound of the loom and the 
shuttle; they know their privileges to be beyond all price; 
they love them and their country as they love life itself: 
and thus strong in themselves, and strong in all around 
them, they offer th© hand of amity to every other nation 
— but they fear none. 

Whenever we thus look at the condition of our coun- 
try, a variety of considerations force themselves instinct- 
ively upon the mind. Among many others, not the 
least interesting are those respecting the causes of our 
national prosperity; the means, by which its extraordinary 
advancement has been accomplished; the leading, con- 
trolling principles, which gave it birth; the epoch, from 
which it commenced; the succession of great events, 
which rendered it stable and permanent. These topics, 
if treated as their importance demands, require the 
extended history instead of the brief address. Every year 
and every day disclose and illustrate them in stronger 
lights: every speculative investigation, every comment 
of experience, whatever we see or hear around us — all 



ORATION. 9 

contribute to enhance their import and to dignify their 
influence. But it is practicable, even in the narrow limits 
which the present occasion allows, to allude directly or 
remotely to them all; and there is a single subject of 
consideration with which they are all most intimately 
connected, which embodies their strength, and which 
claims from its prominence a paramount regard. The 
American Revolution was itself a mighty cause of our 
prosperity; it gave us the means of advancement; it 
established the great principles which mark our public 
policy; it is in itself a succession of epochs; and it unfolds 
many events, as novel and interesting as they are mo- 
mentous and sublime. The Character of the American 
Revolution then will furnish one of our subjects of in- 
quiry. 

Our war of independence, as it was fraught with events 
unlike those of the wars of other nations, so it originated 
and settled certain new and great principles of action. 
In politics, in law, in national morals, different doctrines 
and systems have arisen; new motives have given rise 
to new results; the human mind has received fresh light 
and warmth; nor to our own country has the effect been 
confined. The spirit here excited has crossed the Atlantic, 
has agitated the continent of Europe, has imparted the 
discoveries made by ourselves to millions of our race, 
and has shown them in our history and our present 
elevation, the comment of fact and experience upon the 



10 ORATION. 

principles which the Revolution proclaimed to the world. 
The knowledge thus imparted has been followed by as 
peculiar and impressive results; and consequences, still 
more peculiar and far more impressive, are yet to follow. 
We need no prophetic eye to foresee, that the face of 
Europe — of the globe — will ultimately be changed by 
the American Revolution. Thus regarded, its Influence 
upon mankind well deserves our consideration. Your 
attention then is requested to a brief inquiry into THE 

CHARACTER OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION; and ITS 
INFLUENCE UPON MANKIND. 

The Character of the Revolution will be easily under- 
stood, by considering some of the prominent circum- 
stances with which it was connected. This is true of 
every succession of great events. Preceding and attend- 
ing circumstances make them what they are, distinguish 
them from all others, and fix their proper impression 
on the mind. 

The circumstances connected with this great struggle 
were numerous and peculiar. But few of them, however, 
can be adverted to. Of these the first that will be noticed 
is, the Country xvhere it happened. 

Its climate is healthful, its soil productive; and both 
are fitted to form a hardy and bold population. So great 
is its extent, so various are its features, that they offer 
every inducement to active enterprise. Its remoteness 
from Europe directed our ancestors to their own re- 



ORATION. ii 

sources, for the supply of their wants; and thus taught 
them their own strength, and the value of independence. 
Detached from all other nations, politically as well as 
geographically, they were ready for union among them- 
selves; and when the pressure came from without, every 
thing was concentrated and compact within. No army 
which Great Britain sent against them could occupy 
more than a small region of country — a mere spot upon 
the map; and thus their invaders were formidable only 
within their immediate sphere of action. It was also an 
unfortified country. No line of impregnable forts, no 
ramparted towns, no mountain fastnesses, — like those 
of the battle grounds of Europe — gave their enemy any 
central posts from which he might attack, or strong holds 
in case of defeat. But the ocean, which separated them 
from the country of their foes, gave them perhaps more 
than every thing besides the means of success. Had 
England and America been contiguous; the veteran 
troops, the treble population, and the tenfold power, of 
the former must in one campaign have vanquished all 
resistance. But every sword raised against the liberty 
of America, and every soldier that raised it, were trans- 
ported across a sea of three thousand miles; and thus 
the contest, maintained on one side far from every 
source of supply, and on the other in the heart of their 
much loved land, and surrounded by their wives and 
children who were cheering them on to victory, term';- 



12 ORATION. 

nated in the triumph of right and justice. Such was the 
Country of the Revolution. 

Its Era also deserves our attention. Nations, like 
individuals, have their progressive advancement. The 
human mind, like the natural world, has its gradual 
transition from darkness to light. There is a period, 
in which the individual cannot perceive the real na- 
ture of things around him. There is also a period in 
which the moral darkness is such, that nations — that 
mankind at large, — are perfectly blind to their actual 
condition. But there is also a state beyond which light 
predominates; and then man rises in his might to shake 
off the chains that bind him. Such was the state when 
the Revolution began. At no preceding date, perhaps, 
could it have been successful. How indeed could such 
a contest have existed before the Reformation? Whence 
would have sprung its causes before the overthrow of 
the scholastic, and the introduction of the Baconian, 
philosophy? What could have taught our ancestors the 
nature of their religious rights, before the persecution 
of the Puritans by Elizabeth and James I? Where would 
they have learned the great principles of government 
and the foundations of civil freedom, before the first 
Charles was deposed and the second James had abdi- 
cated? All these great events and others which followed 
them, gave a different impulse to the inquiries of men. 
The relations which we bear to our fellow men, the 



ORATION. 13 

relative claims of the ruler and the subject, the indefea- 
sible rights of conscience, the nature of moral obligation; 
these and other subjects, that bear directly on the hap- 
piness and destiny of man, were explored with all the 
curiosity which novelty awakens, and the energy which 
high-wrought feeling inspires. With this mental and 
moral discipline our ancestors grew up to manhood; and 
in the American soil the tree took deepest root, and 
bore the richest fruits. This discipline sustained them 
in all their colonial difficulties, carried them safely 
through a seven years' Canadian war, and brought them 
boldlv to face the dangers of the war of our independence. 
— Such was its Era. 

Another strong feature of the Revolution is, the 
Character of the People who accomplished it. This is 
true of all revolutions. The terrible inroads made into 
the Roman empire, in its later ages, proclaim the 
ferocity and barbarism of its invaders. Attila and his 
Huns, Alaric and his Goths, in the desolation which 
tracked their footsteps, left certain monuments of their 
own savage and relentless warfare. The United Pro- 
vinces, in their long contest with their Spanish tyrants, 
as plainly announced that a characteristic spirit compelled 
them fo resistance. Let us look then for a moment at 
our Ancestors.— They Were intensely attached to political 
and religious freedom. Many of their forefathers had 
fled from persecution to a howling wilderness; preferring 



14 x ORATION. 

want, and suffering and danger, to all they had left be- 
hind them, so that they might enjoy liberty of conscience 
and a comparatively free government. Thus came the 
Pilgrims of New England: thus came William Penn and 
his companions. Wherever they landed they almost at 
once assumed a regular government, enacted wise laws, 
established wise institutions; and the world saw for the 
first time the spectacle — not of lawless, distracted colo- 
nists slowly emerging into social order and civilization 
— but of substantially free and happy states erected in 
a single day, in the midst of a trackless desert, and by 
men who were cut off from all their brethren of the 
human race. As they began, so they advanced. They 
had laid broad and deep foundations; and the edifice 
was proportionally firm and lofty. The history of their 
legislation and policy, of their resistance against occa- 
sional aggressions from the mother country, and of the 
sacrifices they made in their defensive wars, is honour- 
able to the character of man. — They were distinguished 
for industry and enterprise. But few of us, surrounded 
as we ever have been by security and refinement, can 
fancy what it is to change a land of boundless forests 
and frightful wastes into fruitful fields; to subdue the 
savage beast and the no less savage Indian; to build 
villages and towns along a thousand miles of seacoast; 
to uphold governments and laws; and all with undimi- 
nished energy. Yet all this they did; and they did it, 



ORATION. 15 

unaided and often thwarted by the mother country. 
They grew rich and strong in spite of Great Britain. 
While her navigation acts fettered their commerce, 
while her parliament asserted its supremacy over them, 
while her European politics brought upon them the 
attacks of her formidable rival; they steadily went on, 
contending with poverty, debility and a thousand other 
obstacles; they acquired new vigour and resources from 
every effort; and thus brought at length to the great 
crisis, an amount of power which bore them through in 
triumph.— They loved knowledge. In one part of their 
country they introduced the system of parish schools, 
seventy years before it found its way into Scotland — 
the first nation in Europe that adopted them. They 
endowed academies and colleges, where they had the 
means; and where they had not, they sent many of their 
young men to be taught in those of Europe. In legis- 
lation and politics they thought clearly, and debated 
boldly: in the pamphlets and newspapers of the day, 
diffused every where and read by all, they wrote with 
a force and skill that ensured conviction.— They were 
moral and religious. As they had left the shores, so 
they left most of the vices and crimes of Europe, behind 
them. Its means of gray-haired corruption and luxury, 
its maxims of ambition and deceit, its schemes of con- 
quest and dominion; found no welcome here. Penal 
law found its sanction, and it is its only sure sanction, in 



16 ORATION. 

the manners and feelings of the people. In many colonies 
religion and its ministers had their due influence; and 
in none did they meet opposition or disrespect. Who 
would be ashamed of such Ancestors! 

The Manner inxvhich the Revolution was accomplish- 
ed) deserves our notice. In many respects, it stands alone 
in the history of man. In some revolutions men have been 
goaded to madness by despotic oppression; and they have 
commenced the work by furious insurrection and massa- 
cre. In others, the intrigues of demagogues or party fren- 
zy has kindled a flame which has raged like the fires of 
Etna for the time, and then has died away. But it was not 
thus in our hallowed struggle. It was a war of principles, 
and of principles only. The sole question was, should the 
colonists yield up any of their inherent rights; and they 
were not required to surrender at the outset and in the 
mass all they held dear, but to pay a most trifling tax in 
the shape of an internal regulation of their commerce. 
They met the demand at the outset; they saw that a sin- 
gle aggression paved the way for all, that yielding in one 
thing surrendered every thing; and they answered — No. 
They answered at first by remonstrance, and petitions, 
and declarations of rights; they invoked the reason, the 
justice of Great Britain; calmly and gravely did they 
plead their cause; they exhausted argument and lan- 
guage to avert the crisis; and with patience and forbear- 



ORATION. if 

ance did they wait the decision. At length the decision 
came, as causeless and wanton as it was unjust; and then, 
and not till then, did they draw the sword. — The Rubi- 
con is now passed; and what is next their conduct. How 
majestic is the spectacle! They acted, they legislated — 
not for themselves, not for America only; but for the 
world, for remotest ages. They felt that, in one sense, 
the great rights of man hung upon the issue; that God 
had made them the champions of the human race; that 
posterity demanded their example. Petitions and re- 
monstrances are now forgotten: they have placed their 
enemies in the wrong, in the sight of the universe: they 
appeal to the Sovereign of all worlds, to bless their 
cause: they stake their lives, their fortunes, their sacred 
honour, on its issue: — they proclaim their Independence. 
Thus began the war: thus was it carried on. Against 
the veterans, the fleets, the power of their enemy, they 
maintained a seven years' war until they conquered their 
independence. Often were they driven to extremity. 
Their armies were defeated and reduced to mere frag- 
ments, in want of arms, and clothes, and food; their 
towns were taken, their villages were burnt; the blood- 
hound savage was let loose upon them; their treasury 
was bankrupt: but they never despaired. Disasters gave 
them fresh energy; the justice of their controversy 
made them strong in heart; they conquered on the heels 
of defeat; they bore all their sufferings with unshaken 



18 ORATION. 

fortitude. When they had thus proved by their deeds 
the immutable steadfastness of their purpose, other na- 
tions acknowledged their equality; France sent her gal- 
lant troops to fight by their side; the hour of absolute 
triumph at length came, and taught England the lesson 
which continental Europe has yet to learn— that a nation 
of Freemen can never finally be vanquished. 

The Revolution is distinctly marked by the Character 
of its Hero. Where scarce a traitor or coward was found; 
where Congress and the nation alike did well; where the 
citizen, the common soldier, and the officer, equally per- 
formed their duty; History only can do justice to the 
whole. But the present occasion demands a more particu- 
lar, though it allows but a passing, notice of our glorious 
Washington. In speaking of him, who was " first in the 
hearts of his countrymen," it is difficult to speak tem- 
perately. The sober language of truth appears hyper- 
bole: the honest dictates of the heart have the semblance 
of national vanity. — The great events of our revolution, 
like all other great events, required great minds to direct 
them; but they also required far more. The contro- 
versy was, in many respects, superiour in dignity and im- 
portance to any which the world had ever seen; and 
among the worthies of that day, heaven raised up one 
to be their chief, to the moral grandeur of whose public 
career the annals of modern ages afford no parallel. The 
only individuals of modern times who can be compared 



ORATION. 19 

with him are, Alfred the Great, and the first and second 
Gustavus of Sweden; but even these pre-eminent men 
are his inferiours in transcendent dignity of character. 
Like every other man, he doubtless had his failings; but 
the history of his public life, as the commander-in-chief 
of our armies, and as the first president of our republic, 
is a history without a blot — a page of unmingled light. 
As general, he was alike illustrious for his ability, his 
valour, his caution, his activity, and his invincible en- 
ergy; as president, for his integrity and his wisdom; and in 
each lofty station, for his reliance on God, his firmness, 
his disinterestedness, and his patriotism. He united all 
hearts: he commanded all confidence; the almost adoring 
affection and veneration which his countrymen gave him, 
he repaid by single and intense devotion to their welfare: 
he died the Father of his country, and the Benefactor 
of nan. 

Thus have we concisely sketched the Character of the 
American Revolution. Its Influence upon mankind will 
now be adverted to. This is direct, and indirect. Its 
indirect influence arises from the genius of our govern- 
ment, and our national prosperity; both of which are the 
immediate results of the Revolution. They will be re- 
garded without discrimination, in the present inquiry. 

We shall notice the Mode in which this influence is 
exerted; and the Effects of this influence. 

Its Mode of exerting influence has mainly been, by pro- 



20 ORATION. 

claiming to the world certain great and primary princi- 
ples, as the basis of our government and internal policy — 
in other words, by Precept: and, by Example. 

Among these great principles, one that deserves atten- 
tion, is this: that all power resides in the People; that they 
are vested with it solely, absolutely, and indefeasibly. 
Its truth, is self-evident: like the axioms of geometry, 
it needs only to be announced, to be instantly perceived. 
Yet it is a fact, and one almost passing belief, that our 
own country was the first to acknowledge it; that, in all 
the myriads of states since time began, not a solitary re- 
cognition of its truth can be found. Plain and simple as 
it is, it is the basis of all our governments, state as well 
as national. It is the air and the light, pervading our 
political sphere: it is the power of gravitation, binding 
all its elements together. It originated our constitution; 
it animates all its articles; it speaks in its first line. Mark 
its brief, but sublime commencement. " We, the People 
of the United States — do ordain and establish." — It is a 
principle inherently just. As the People are the nation, 
are those for whose good government was instituted; 
they have the plainest right to govern themselves. Yet 
most nations have wholly denied its justice. Mankind 
seem generally to have thought that men were created 
only to be governed, that the happiness of subjects de- 
pended on the mere grace of their rulers, and that mil- 
lions were made for one. In those countries whose po- 



ORATION. 21 

licy has more resembled our own, we still find, in one — a 
king, and in another — an aristocracy, possessing peculiar 
power. But far different is our condition. Here the 
People, in their simplest form; the nation, of which 
every individual is a vitally component part; possess all 
power. Of a part of it they dispose, to be directed to 
their greater benefit; and what they do not thus dispose 
of, they retain. Let us refer to the constitution of the 
United States for an illustration. It was brought into 
existence by the People themselves: and in this instru- 
ment they have prescribed, solely for their own advan- 
tage, three great departments as the depositories of 
power; one—to make laws, another — to pronounce them, 
and another — to execute them. The bounds are precisely 
settled, beyond which, those who fill these departments 
cannot pass; each is a check upon the other; each is re- 
sponsible for maladministration ; the executive and the 
legislature are elected for short periods only; all are 
chosen from the People; and all, directly or indirectly, 
by the People. The powers not granted are expressly re- 
served by the People to themselves; and they also reserve 
the right of alteration in every particular, at their plea* 
sure. How signal the illustration; how wise the princi- 
ple! — It is productive also of the greatest public happi- 
ness. Man by nature is never willingly placed in sub- 
jection: the privilege of self-government therefore en- 
sures contentment. When others dispose of our rights, 



22 ORATION. 

we have no stable possession of them: the privilege of 
self-government promises security. Where the People 
are merely subjects, their rights are denied, and often 
wholly disregarded. But where they confer power, the 
sole object of the trust is to promote the perfect enjoy- 
ment of these rights. Who can estimate the importance 
of such a principle! 

Another of these great political precepts declares; that 
All men are born free and equal. This is a necessary con- 
sequence from the one just adverted to, but it calls for se- 
parate observation. Man under every form of government, 
from the despoticto the free, is controlled by motives; and 
of these the variety is infinite. In a despotism the motives 
to action are addressed to his fears; in a pure republic like 
our own, to his reason and his love of happiness. In the 
former of these states, the precarious tenure of all that 
he values, cramps his energy, represses exertion, and 
feeds despondence; in the latter, where every thing is 
left to his own choice and he is conscious of entire se- 
curity, every faculty and every emotion are excited to 
action, and the results are proportional. As each citizen 
is free, he is exempt from every form of restraint; as all 
are equal, the privileges shared by all are the same. In 
announcing this cardinal principle in our policy, we de- 
clare, that every man may act as he pleases, when not 
infringing the rights of others; and that every avenue to 



ORATION. 23 

office and distinction, all the blessings of human society, 
are alike open to all. Thus the appeal is at once made 
to the private and the public interests of every member 
of the community. Wherever his will leads him, what- 
ever in the world of objects around him invites his ex- 
ertions, whatever stimulates the governing faculties of 
his mind; there he is at liberty to act, and to go. Let 
us suppose by way of contrast, the policy of many Euro- 
pean states in force here; and what should we find its 
features? — We behold a sovereign armed with all or 
many of the powers of a despot, hereditary nobles, the 
avenues to office and distinction barred against the mass 
of the population, the tenure of every enjoyment at the 
will of others, the free expression of thought threatened 
with imprisonment and confiscation, and the peasantry 
rivettedto the soil— like the trees of the forest. Let the 
happiness, the energy of freedom here, speak its superi- 
ority. There is one exception, however, which truth re- 
quires me to mention. The slave population of our south- 
ern states do not furnish the strongest proof of our love 
of liberty. It is, however, no small palliation, that negro 
slavery in America is the work of preceding generations; 
and that the welfare, both of the freeman and the slave, 
demands that the abolition of this evil should be 

gradual. 

Another principle declares, that the rights of Con- 
science are inviolable. Religion, when we refer to its 



24 ORATION. 

public character, treats of the relations existing between 
man and his Creator. These relations depend not on 
states of society; and in their essence they are un- 
changeable. Human power cannot affect them: God 
only is lord of the conscience. They operate through 
the medium of truth; and truth is conveyed to the 
mind, by instruction and persuasion only. As the rights 
of conscience then are paramount in importance to all 
others, it is monstrous oppression to attempt to control 
the faith of men. Yet this attempt was made, for 
many centuries, in different kingdoms of Europe. The 
argument was not that of reason, but of menace; often, 
that of bitter persecution; and not rarely, that of death. 
What connexion have such arguments with religion, 
whose essence is benevolence! Even at the present 
day, there is but one solitary nation in Europe that 
enjoys religious freedom. All others have their estab- 
lished church; in most, other churches are tolerated; 
but in some, there is no toleration whatever. To those 
who uphold such systems, we point out our own condi- 
tion. Here religion is furnished with her proper means 
to secure the homage of the heart: entire safety, and the 
use of every motive that addresses the reason of man. 
These are forever guaranteed to her; and she asks for 
no other. What is the consequence? Let social order, 
the regular control of law, our peaceful villages, our 
moral population, answer. Let the reply be made by the 



ORATION. 25 

character of our clergy, by the free and wide diffusion 
of the Bible, and by the thousands of temples that are 
consecrated to the Most High. 

The last of these great principles, of which the occa- 
sion permits a notice, is this: that the Press shall be ab- 
solutely ', and forever ', free. 

Knowledge, or the perception of truth, is to the mind 
what light is to the eye; and the chief means of acquiring 
knowledge are furnished by the press. To control the 
press, to prohibit it; has ever been the policy, the ne- 
cessity, of arbitrary governments. No despotism can 
exist for any period, where the press is free. The mo- 
ment that men come to the knowledge of their rights, 
their oppressed condition, and their own strength; that 
moment will they rise in a mass and overthrow their 
oppressors. This invariably has been the fact; and thus 
it ever will and must be; and none are more aware of 
it than the despotic monarchs of Europe. They show 
their fear of the press and their knowledge of its power, 
in the tenfold chains which they have thrown around it. 
What other meaning have the censorships, the limitation 
of newspapers to a small number, the penalties of con- 
fiscation and exile, which are arrayed against it? All 
these precautions speak but one language; and that is — 
the omnipotence of the press. But we have no such fears. 
Here knowledge of every kind, and peculiarly that of 
our political affairs, is diffused like the air of heaven. 



26 ORATION. 

Upon our public concerns every man's eye is fixed; every 
man speaks and writes, precisely what he thinks; every 
measure of government must first endure the ordeal of 
public opinion, — and if that opinion condemns it, it 
must be abandoned. That the majority ought to govern, 
is self-evident; that the majority will govern, a free 
press makes it certain. To render then an infringement 
of our freedom possible, the nation at large must be 
radically corrupted: no secret conspiracy, no wicked 
faction, could make other than a hopeless attempt. At 
the least suspicion of such designs, the press would 
direct the eyes of this great nation at once upon themj 
and in every man would they find a foe. 

Such are some of the Precepts which mankind have 
learned from the American Revolution. But they have 
been also most impressively taught by Example. 

This era in our history has given to the world, as one 
of its immediate results, the Example of a Written Con- 
stitution. The forms of all governments existing before 
our own have been the effect of force, or accident, or 
some other circumstances. In their adoption the peo- 
ple have had little or no agency; their provisions have 
been doubtful, undefined, endlessly varying with events, 
and warranting successive usurpations. When the Con- 
stitution of the United States was adopted, a different 
and novel spectacle was witnessed; that of a great nation 
deliberately and peaceably establishing its form of govern* 



ORATION. 27 

ment, in the shape of a Written Constitution. In this 
extraordinary instrument, as concise as it is compre- 
hensive, as distinct as it is energetic, every citizen may 
read our national polity. Its provisions are complete 
and full; there is therefore no pretext for radical changes: 
they are clear and explicit; there is therefore no room 
for the introduction of ancient usages — gathered from 
doubtful tradition, or party -history — to explain them, 
for alterations from conjecture or interest, for uncertainty 
or contention: they are in the hands of every one, and 
the subject of general study; there is therefore no cause 
to fear their violation. Such is its superiority; and other 
nations have profited by the example. Within the last 
ten year3 France, Spain, Portugal, several of the smaller 
states of Germany, and the southern republics of the 
American continent, have all obtained a written consti- 
tution; and we well know that many other nations of 
Europe are now struggling and impatient to obtain them; 
and there is every reason to predict that they will not 
cease to struggle, until the effort is successful. These 
momentous facts speak volumes. They declare with 
overpowering emphasis, that such constitutions are re- 
garded by enlightened men as the great safeguard of 
their rights, as a necessary barrier against the artifice 
and oppression of their rulers; and that all men, if left 
to their own choice, would speedily adopt them. 

Another of these Examples is, that of a Free, Repre- 



28 ORATION, 

sentative Government. It has already been observed, 
that the only proper object of government is the happi- 
ness of the governed — of the people at large. Its form, 
its principles, its mode of administration, aim directly 
at this end; and wherever other ends are pursued, the 
whole system is a system of injustice and oppression. 
To ensure this object, the people of the United States 
have established the scheme of Representation; and this 
scheme has four primary principles. Our Representa- 
tives are elected — by the people; — from the people; — for 
short periods of service; — and from small districts. In 
the character of their rulers, the people have a radical 
concern. The whole structure of our foreign and do- 
mestic policy, the nature of our laws, the rights of per- 
son and property, in other words — our prosperity as a 
nation; all, and each, are the trusts confided to the re- 
presentative. It is essential, therefore, that he should be 
elected by the people. Where the ruler is independent, 
the measures of government do not affect himself; and 
history teaches us in melancholy lessons, how often the 
despotism of the prince, the tyranny of his ministers, 
and the venality of his favourites have perverted all 
justice, and destroyed the good of the many for the 
base purposes of the few. To prevent these terrible evils, 
to secure a common interest between the people and the 
representative; it is essential that he should be elected 
from the people. Where the term of service is long, a 



ORATION. 29 

comparative independence is still given; the period of ac- 
countability is so distant, that it ceases to impress the 
mind; and there is abundant leisure to pursue private 
advantage at the sacrifice of the public good. To re- 
move this impunity, to hold the unfaithful and incompe- 
tent under safe control; it is essential that the period of 
service should be short. That every portion of the coun- 
try may find its proper influence in our state and na- 
tional councils, that the interests of no part of our popu- 
lation should be overlooked; it is essential that the 
representative should be elected from small districts. 
All these cardinal doctrines regulate our system of re- 
presentation; and the world has seen their union, for the 
first time, in our own country. 

One other, and but one other Example, can be men- 
tioned: the entire and triumphant Success, which has fol- 
lowed the adoption of our whole scheme of government 
and policy. A republican system, equal laws, and rational 
freedom have been, to the patriot and philanthropist, 
through different centuries, a most fascinating theme of 
contemplation. But they had been generally regarded 
as brilliant, but delusive visions; to be realized perhaps 
in some far distant sphere, but which promised no con- 
solation to the wants and the woes of man. When our 
country began the experiment, wise and good men 
throughout the world were intensely and anxiously 
waiting for its issue; with some hope indeed, but with 



30 ORATION. 

many distressing fears, lest here also the darling object 
should vanish like a fairy dream. Had the trial failed, 
the sun of American liberty would have set in midnight 
darkness, and hope would have been extinguished in 
despair. But, blessed be heaven, it is an experiment no 
longer. The brilliant vision has become a blissful reality; 
the lustre of the rising orb has been lost in his meridian 
brightness; doubt and fear have fled far away; and all 
nations see, and know, and feel, that in our great repub- 
lic man can be free and be happy. During the thirty- 
seven years that have elapsed since the establishment 
of our constitution, the gigantic energy of American 
freedom has wrought results that almost outstrip the gay 
creations of the poet's fancy. In this period our popula- 
lation has augmented from four millions to twelve; our 
commerce has been quadrupled; our revenue has grown 
five fold; our manufactures twenty fold; and our whole 
country submits to the peaceful control of law and know- 
ledge, of morals and religion. Such is the comment of 
fact and experience upon our institutions! 

The Effects, which have followed the direct and indi- 
rect influence of the American Revolution upon man 
kind, are the remaining topic of observation. The situa- 
tion of this country for the last half century has been a 
political phenomenon; and, as such, has every where 
commanded the attention of reflecting men. Its almost 
preternatural growth has been vigilantly watched, whil" 



ORATION. 31 

its history and policy have been profoundly studied. 
The progress of wonderful events throughout the world 
during the same period, has kindled an unextinguisha- 
ble spirit of inquiry, concerning these and similar sub- 
jects; and men appear now to have arrayed themselves 
in two mighty parties — that of the Friends — and that 
of the Enemies— of Free Governments. As their views 
and feelings are totally diverse, no compromise can exist 
between them; and the only question is, a question in- 
volving the hopes and the destiny of man — which shall 
ultimately triumph, and which shall fall. 

Upon each of these great parties the Influence of the 
Revolution, and of its direct results in the United 
States, is constant and all-powerful. It is not a rash as- 
sertion that, without this influence, they would not now 
exist. The French Revolution, whose governing princi- 
ples at its commencement were as just as they were af- 
terwards unhappily forgotten, derived its immediate 
impulse from our own; and these stupendous causes 
have changed the aspect of the world. 

The Friends of Free Governments are found in every 
civilized nation upon earth, and every year increases 
their numbers. Their objects, although modified by cir- 
cumstances, are every where the same: to secure to 
themselves and to posterity blessings similar to those 
which we enjoy — the inalienable rights of man; and to 
secure them at every hazard — peaceably, if they can — 



32 ORATION. 

forcibly, if they must. They look at us, as their prede- 
cessors in this thrice hallowed enterprise; and welcome 
us as their friends and brethren. They feel one spirit: 
they speak one language. It is the spirit which tells the 
Englishman, how many of our institutions are the same 
with those of Great Britain; which bids every native of 
unhappy Ireland view our country as another home; 
which tells the Spanish exile that here he may find a 
refuge; which prompts the oppressed Italian to recite, 
in fearless confidence, the story of his wrongs to the 
American traveller; which still grasps the sword of ago- 
nizing Greece; and which has vanquished the arms of 
a despot at the feet of the Andes, and on the banks of 
the Orinoco. It is the spirit, also, which has already 
widely triumphed. The whole northern shore of the 
Mediterranean has been shaken by its impulse. France 
now possesses many of the blessings of freedom; Portu- 
gal has at length obtained the boon; treason and foreign 
aggression have, for the time only, torn it away from 
Spain; Naples and Piedmont are fainting to receive it; 
Greece does not despair. In the heart of Europe, Prus- 
sia and Germany are not silent; and our Southern He- 
misphere has broken the yoke. 

The Enemies of Free Governments have also one 
object: to put down every effort to obtain institutions like 
our own. They co-operate in an " Alliance" as formi- 
dable as it is Un " holy:" and they expect finally to sue- 



ORATION. 33 

ceed by stifling the press; by controlling public education; 
by making religion a mere engine of the state; by mena- 
cing with the penalties of imprisonment, exile, and death; 
by legions of spies; and by a million and a half of bayo- 
nets. It is a conjoined system of deceit and of force; 
where ignorance is the means of darkening, and power 
of overawing, the human mind. Already, has it pros- 
trated the rising liberty of many nations in Europe; and 
it is irreconcilably hostile to the liberty of all. 

"What the progress of this great struggle of man will 
be, and when we may look for its termination; are ques- 
tions that futurity only can answer. Its duration may be 
sorely protracted: its progress will probably be marked 
by events tremendous beyond all example. But Freedom 
must ultimately triumph. It is the cause of our race; it 
is the cause of righteousness; it is the cause of God. 

Thus have been briefly noticed the Character of the 
American Revolution, and its Influence upon mankind. 
It has not been the aim of the speaker to address you 
with an empty eulogy of our country and of ourselves. 
To awaken national vanity is ever an unworthy employ- 
ment. But, if the sentiments which you have heard are 
just, they call for different but more suitable emotions. 
With the humbling conviction that our national blessings 
are wholly unmerited; should be mingled unspeakable 
gratitude to Him who gave them, and an inflexible re- 



34 ORATION. 

solution to perpetuate them— as an example to our fellow 
men in other lands, — and as a heritage to posterity. 

On the birthday of Washington we may well indulge 
in such a theme of contemplation. It teaches us what 
were the objects for which he toiled, and wept, and 
fought; and for which he would have died. In his cha- 
racter we all feel a common property; what American 
will not profit by his example? 

. " Bursting through the gloom, 

That shrouds the radiance of our Hero's tomb, 
The sacred splendour of his deathless name 
Shall ever grace and guard his Country's fame. 
Far seen shall blaze the unextinguish'd ray: 
A mighty beacon, lighting glory's way; 
Whose living lustre shall our land adorn, 
And shine, and save, to ages yet unborn."* 

* Ulm and Trafalgar. 



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